Els infinitius del tipus 'néix(e)re' i la seva àrea geogràfica

Infinitives of the type néix(e)re and their geographical area. The article defines the geographical area in which class II rhizotonic infinitives (and other class III verbs that are comparable with regard to their infinitive form) present epenthesis after the infinitive morph (e.g. néix(e)re). The area is located in the north-eastern part of central Catalan and its perimeter differs in part according to the final phoneme of the root; the presence of the rhotic in the root is also significant. These differences in the manifestation of the feature were stressed by Pi i Mallarach 1993, in a study limited to the analysis of a defined group of informants from a single place and referring strictly to class II infinitives. In the present geolinguistic study, the varying surface area in which the feature is found reveals these differences. We also compare the data corresponding to these infinitives found in Flexió verbal (Alcover 1906-1928) and the data compiled in our own study (1999--2003). In our research we performed interviews in 42 locations (among them those studied by Alcover) with a total of 126 randomly selected informants aged between 50 and 60. (Catalan text).